Twine-cutter.



J. D. HESS.

TWINE CUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.15,1912.

1,055, 1 '71 Patented Mar. 4, 1913.

JOSEPH D. HESS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

TWINE-CUTTER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrn D. Hess, a citizen of the United States,residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in 'lwine-Cutters, of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to a twine-cutter blade and holder for attachmentto the openfront of filing cases comprising small openend boxes orpigeon holes in which letters and other mail matter is placed to be putup in packages for distribution on mail cars, and in post offices thepackages to be tied with twine.

The object of this invention is to provide for letter-boxes ablade-holder comprising a substantially flat frame which is structurallycontrived to attach at the side and at the front edge of one of thevertical partitions of a letter-box case, the cutter-blade being held bythe frame at the front and projecting in alinement with the saidvertical partition, and the blade-holder so arranged that the lowerfront part of its frame will bear on the bottom at the front of theletter box, and said frame having an upper back part that will contactwith the top at the rear of the letter box, whereby this improved holderaffords a strong leverage to resist the down-strain caused by pullingtwine downward on the edge of the cutterblade.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which,-

Figure 1 shows a small portion of a case of letter-spaces and one of thetwine-cutter holders in position on the edge of a vertical partition.Fig. 2 is a view of a cutter-blade mounted on a spring-wire holderattached to the vertical partition of a letter space or pigeon hole.Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the wire-holders showing thecutter blade projecting ready for use. Fig. 1 shows a horizontal sectionof a vertical partition and a wire holder gripping the same. Fig-5 is aView of a preferred form of cutter-blade. Fig. 6 shows a modification inthe construction of the blade-holder. Fig. 7 shows another modificationin the shape of the spring wire clamp and blade holder.

The cutter blade, 1, is attached to the holder which latter clips ontothe front of a vertical partition of one of the open-end letter boxesand holds the blade with the cutting edge upward in convenient positionSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 15, 1912.

Patented Mar. 4, 1913.

Serial No. 677,785.

for the person who has tied a bundle of letters, to pull the twine andbundle downward so that the twine will take across the cutting edge andbe severed.

()no form of wire blade-holder having my improvement, is shown in Figs.2, 3 and 4 and comprises a wire frame, 2, of rectangular shape; in thesefigures the front end, 3, of the frame has the form of a square post;the longitudinal bars, 1, of this frame are fastened .to the square postand are slightly curved from end to end, the convexity of this curve ineach of the two bars being away from the spring wire clip ends, 5, whichare also rigidly fastened to the Said front post, 3, at the sideopposite the ends of the bars, 4t. The said spring clips, 5, each have abearing bend, 6, midway of their ends, and the convexity of this bendpoints toward the concavity of the said curve on the frame bars, t. Thisconstruction forms a clip or clamp that will grip the opposite surfacesof the vertical parlition, 7, of a letter box or pigeon hole, as seen inFig. 4. In this position of the bladeholder the square post, 3, standsvertically at the front end of the vertical partition. One side of thepost, 3, has a shoulder, 8, near its bottom and the cutter blade, 1, issecured by one end to the post above said shoulder by a screw-pin, 9,which serves as a pivot, whereby the blade may turn down or up, and thusmay take either of two positions -a horizontal position with the cuttingedge exposed upward, or the blade may take a vertical position alongsideof the post, 3, in this latter position the blade is out of use; itsedge is guarded by the post and is not liable to cut or injure anyone.When the blade is turned down to the horizontal position it is supportedon the shoulder, 8, on the post and will then bear the strain occasionedby a downward pull of a piece of twine that may be across the cuttingedge. The screw-pin, 9, has a thumb-nut, 20, by tightening which theblade, 1, will be held in either of itstwo positions.

The upper back corner of the bladeholder frame may be provided with oneor more notches, 10, which, if the back end of the frame should tiltupward will engage with the meshed wires, 21, which form the tops andbottoms of some of said letter boxes. Instead of notches, 10, the upperback corner of the frame may have an upward lug, 22, to contact with thetop of the boX and such lug will keep the blade-holding frame in itsposition.

A modification of blade holder is shown in Fig. 7 This form of holder issubstan tially triangular in shape; it may be made of thin board,sheet-metal or of wire. The back end, 15, is higher than the front end,and has an inclined edge, 16, from the high to the low end; the highback corner of this modification may have notches same as in Fig. 3 andfor the same purpose, or may have an upward-projecting lug, 22, toeither engage between the wires, 21, or to contact with the top of thebox when wires are not used.' At the low front end is a vertical bar orpost, 17. One or more spring wire clips, 18, has an end fastened to saidpost while the other end is free and takes on one side of a verticalpartition, 7, and serve to hold the triangular frame in close contactwith the opposite side of the vertical partition. A cutter-blade, l, ispivoted to the front end, and has the same movement and operation as theblade shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The preferred form of cutter-blade has its free end provided with awell-known knob or bulb-shaped enlargement, 19, which serves as a guardor safety device to prevent ones hand or clothing from being cut by theblade while it is in the turned-down position.

A second modification of holder for a pivoted cutter-blade, is shown inFig. 6. This form of blade-holder has substantially the shape of atry-square, and may be made of any suitable material such as sheetmetal.

It has at the high back corner notches, 10; the two broken parallellines, 11, indicate a flap spring 011 the reverse side, said springserving to clip onto a vertical partition, 7 A blade, 1, is pivoted on ascrew-pin and a thumb-nut, 20, will keep the blade in the desiredposition.

A small ring or eye, 12, is fixed at the front end of the blade holderand below the pivoted blade; this device serves to hold the free end ofthe pord or twine (not shown) that comes from a ball. Thus the operatorwill always find the loose end of twine hanging from this ring or eye,12.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is,-

A twine cutter blade holder for letterboXes, consisting of asubstantially flat frame operative when in a vertical position and incontact with the side of a vertical partition of the letter-box, saidframe having a lower front part that will bear on the bottom at thefront of the letter-box, and an upper back part that will contact withthe top at the rear of the letter-box, and said frame holding thecutter-blade projecting at the front and in alinement with said verticalpartition with the cutting edge of said blade Copies of this patent maybe obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner ofPatents, Washington, I). G.

